As an Armenian American living in San Francisco, Armanoush feels like part of her identity is missing and that she must make a journey back to the past, to Turkey, in order to start living her life. Asya is a nineteen-year-old woman living in an extended all-female household in Istanbul who loves Jonny Cash and the French existentialists. The Bastard of Istanbul tells the story of their two families--and a secret connection linking them to a violent event in the history of their homeland. Filed with humor and understanding, this exuberant, dramatic novel is about memory and forgetting, about the need to examine the past and the desire to erase it, and about Turkey itself.

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An amazing historical fiction of one of the most forgotten events in history. By the end of the book I was determined on one thing: Read it again! to savor every single detail that I might have missed.

As an Armenian living in America, Armanoush feels that part of her identity is missing and that she must make a journey back to the past, to Turkey, in order to start living her life. She secretly flies to Istanbul, finds her aunts and becomes fast friends with one cousin, Asya. A secret is eventually uncovered that links the two families together and ties them to the 1915 Armenian deportations and massacres.

My first taste of Elif Shafak was "The Forty Rules of love," which really stirred me. Perhaps because of this, I was spoiled and expected too much. "The Bastard of Istanbul," started slowly but began to grow on me when Asya and Armanoush grew up. Armanoush is very astute when she makes the pronouncement, "You see, for me to fully experience my Armenianness, I had to come to Turkey and meet the Turks" Each aunt in Turkey has a distinct characteristic and I found aunt Banu fascinating. Her coffee readings seemed so prophetic and "Unlike the fate written by Allah coffee could always wash away." Armanoush's Cyber Cafe chats are indeed interesting and someone always comes out with a pearl of wisdom like, "The oppressor has no use for the past. The oppressed has nothing but the past."<br/>The Bastard of Istanbul is not the central character and her past can be guessed but Shafak reveals it in the last chapter fittingly.

Not yet on audiobook at clevnet... About Turkish attempted genocide of Armenians during WWI (but much more entertaining than that). A girl (no Dad) lives with 4 generations of women and learns of past ugliness of Turks.
This award winning author was brought up on charges for writing UnTurkish friendly info.

A powerful story about what holds people and peoples together and what separates them. Richly textured and colorfully written. It's also interesting to note that this is the book for which Elif Shafak was prosecuted in Turkey. Even as progressive a country as Turkey is in many ways, still seems to have some issues with free speech.